During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.
Observations:
Today, was my second visit to Gaudet Middle School. I came in a few minutes before the start of classes and most of the students seemed tired, but happy to be in class. Once most of the students were in the room and in their seats, Mrs. Howell took out a half sheet of paper and told the class to take out their homework assignment the resembled the half sheet. Some students complained that they couldn't answer one of the questions, but Mrs. Howell quickly interjected and asked for class attention to explain that the last question could be answered if they looked at the image she had put up on the projector before class. As she walked around checking off homework, she returned a quiz on mass, volume, and density from the other day and asked students to look over their work and make notes on any questions they got wrong. I then handed out an error sheet, which most students were familiar with from math, as Mrs. Howell explained that students would be using the error sheet to explain why they got certain questions wrong and anything new they learned about mass, volume, and density. For the majority of class period students filled these out, while Mrs. Howell and I walked around sorting out any confusions the students had. When there was about 20 minutes left in class, Mrs. Howell had the class clean up and hand in any finished error reports along with the quiz, while those who had not finished took it as homework. She then explained that based on the quizzes, most students needed to review volume and density a little more so we handed out cubic cm. blocks and different metal weights to groups of four to work on the understanding of these concepts. Using these tools, most students seemed to have a better grasp of area, mass and volume, but to test it even further my CT took out stacking blocks and asked the students to find the volume of one block. When everyone had it, 8 cubic cm., she challenged the groups to build structures with the blocks given the total volume of the structure. I was allowed to help them out by making a projector sheet listing multiples of eight. The class really seemed to like this because they enjoyed the building and seeing what different structures each group made using the same volume. This course of events continued on with the next three class periods, and the performance of each student and Mrs. Howell's relationship with each student seemed consistent across the board.
Reflections:
Mrs. Howell has a relationship with her students that is pretty much in line with how I would want to interact with my students. She is definitely not over-bearing or strict, but she also is not so relaxed that the students can take advantage of her. For example, one group was not listening to what the error sheet was for so they ended up talking and not starting any work with the quiz. When it came time to dismiss the class for lunch, Mrs. Howell dismissed all the other groups before them and had a small talk with them about why they were dismissed last so they understood that their behavior was inappropriate. In this way she was disciplining without singling the group out in front of the class, where they might feel embarressed and compelled to act out so they didn't look foolish for the way they were acting. Mrs. Howell does a lot of group activities and independent work, such as the group building activity and the individual error sheet, which I also think is a great idea because she is rarely in front of the classroom having the students take down notes while she talks. I really like the error sheet idea because with Mrs. Howell's format the student had to classify wrong answers in three different categories: "I knew that..", "I did not know that..", and "I still don't get it.." In each row the student had to write the number of the problem he/she got wrong, the correct answer, and why they got it wrong and what they know now from fixing it. This is a great method for teaching for understanding because the students can't simply copy the correct answer, they actually have to explain why they got it wrong and learn from their mistakes. One of the reasons Mrs. Howell is such a successful teacher is because she takes time to re-learn material by a different means like what she did with the blocks to clarify volume and density. She doesn't just plow through material to meet what should be covered and I think the students see that and really appreciate that she cares and their knowledge and wants them to enjoy what they are learning. When I begin teaching I hope to have the same sort of relationship with my students, and I hope to be perceived as someone they respect enough to give their full attention when needed, but feel comfortable enough to talk to if they have a problem.
Class Topic: General Science Grade: 7 Observed by: Beth Copeley
Observation/Reflection #3: A Matter of Style
During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.Observations:
Today, was my second visit to Gaudet Middle School. I came in a few minutes before the start of classes and most of the students seemed tired, but happy to be in class. Once most of the students were in the room and in their seats, Mrs. Howell took out a half sheet of paper and told the class to take out their homework assignment the resembled the half sheet. Some students complained that they couldn't answer one of the questions, but Mrs. Howell quickly interjected and asked for class attention to explain that the last question could be answered if they looked at the image she had put up on the projector before class. As she walked around checking off homework, she returned a quiz on mass, volume, and density from the other day and asked students to look over their work and make notes on any questions they got wrong. I then handed out an error sheet, which most students were familiar with from math, as Mrs. Howell explained that students would be using the error sheet to explain why they got certain questions wrong and anything new they learned about mass, volume, and density. For the majority of class period students filled these out, while Mrs. Howell and I walked around sorting out any confusions the students had. When there was about 20 minutes left in class, Mrs. Howell had the class clean up and hand in any finished error reports along with the quiz, while those who had not finished took it as homework. She then explained that based on the quizzes, most students needed to review volume and density a little more so we handed out cubic cm. blocks and different metal weights to groups of four to work on the understanding of these concepts. Using these tools, most students seemed to have a better grasp of area, mass and volume, but to test it even further my CT took out stacking blocks and asked the students to find the volume of one block. When everyone had it, 8 cubic cm., she challenged the groups to build structures with the blocks given the total volume of the structure. I was allowed to help them out by making a projector sheet listing multiples of eight. The class really seemed to like this because they enjoyed the building and seeing what different structures each group made using the same volume. This course of events continued on with the next three class periods, and the performance of each student and Mrs. Howell's relationship with each student seemed consistent across the board.Reflections:
Mrs. Howell has a relationship with her students that is pretty much in line with how I would want to interact with my students. She is definitely not over-bearing or strict, but she also is not so relaxed that the students can take advantage of her. For example, one group was not listening to what the error sheet was for so they ended up talking and not starting any work with the quiz. When it came time to dismiss the class for lunch, Mrs. Howell dismissed all the other groups before them and had a small talk with them about why they were dismissed last so they understood that their behavior was inappropriate. In this way she was disciplining without singling the group out in front of the class, where they might feel embarressed and compelled to act out so they didn't look foolish for the way they were acting. Mrs. Howell does a lot of group activities and independent work, such as the group building activity and the individual error sheet, which I also think is a great idea because she is rarely in front of the classroom having the students take down notes while she talks. I really like the error sheet idea because with Mrs. Howell's format the student had to classify wrong answers in three different categories: "I knew that..", "I did not know that..", and "I still don't get it.." In each row the student had to write the number of the problem he/she got wrong, the correct answer, and why they got it wrong and what they know now from fixing it. This is a great method for teaching for understanding because the students can't simply copy the correct answer, they actually have to explain why they got it wrong and learn from their mistakes. One of the reasons Mrs. Howell is such a successful teacher is because she takes time to re-learn material by a different means like what she did with the blocks to clarify volume and density. She doesn't just plow through material to meet what should be covered and I think the students see that and really appreciate that she cares and their knowledge and wants them to enjoy what they are learning. When I begin teaching I hope to have the same sort of relationship with my students, and I hope to be perceived as someone they respect enough to give their full attention when needed, but feel comfortable enough to talk to if they have a problem.Class Topic: General Science
Grade: 7
Observed by: Beth Copeley